Defensive end Calais Campbell of the Jacksonville Jaguars takes the field before the start of the AFC Wild Card Playoff game against the Buffalo Bills at EverBank Field on Jan. 7, 2018 in Jacksonville, Fla.

Calais Campbell tossed a pair of dice over a Monopoly board last March as he prepared to make the biggest decision of his professional life. He passed the “Go” square on the game board, collecting $200 in fake cash as he pondered where he would make real millions.

“Why is it so hard, though?” said the 6-foot-8, 300-pound defensive end, his experience captured in an “Uninterrupted” documentary. “I didn’t expect it to be this hard of a decision.”

Campbell set a clear goal when he prepared to chase the last big contract of his NFL career. Then 30 years old, the ace pass rusher made it clear he wanted to make $15 million in average annual salary. When up-and-coming Jacksonville bumped its offer to meet that demand, it seemed like his decision had been made for him.

Then came the pull of home. Campbell grew up in Denver and played at South High School. He was a kid watching John Elway lead the Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl championships. So when Elway, the Broncos’ general manager, led a charge to sign Campbell, albeit at a number below what the Jaguars offered, it gave Campbell pause.

“The only reason I haven’t pulled the trigger yet is that Denver came in,” Campbell said as the minutes ticked down toward the official opening of free agency. “Denver is home. That’s definitely something to consider.”

The overture by the Broncos may have made his decision more stressful at the time, but Campbell has no reason to second-guess himself these days. After signing a four-year, $60 million contract with the Jaguars, Campbell made a bigger impact in his first season in Jacksonville than the executives signing his checks could have imagined. The Jaguars are one victory from the Super Bowl — in no small part because of the contributions of Campbell, who has had the best season of his NFL career.

During his nine seasons with Arizona, Campbell never had more than nine sacks in a season. In 2017, he set a Jaguars record with 14½ sacks, forced three fumbles and earned Pro Bowl, all-pro and defensive player of the year honors, the latter from the Pro Football Writers of America. He became the mayor of “Sacksonville,” the name the Jaguars’ defense adopted while accumulating 55 quarterback takedowns.

“I think it’s one of those things where being a star on a team of stars is where he’s finally at,” said Ryan Harris, the former Broncos offensive tackle who went head to head with Campbell three times in his NFL career. “Any time you can put three (outstanding) players on the defensive line, you really create opportunities for everybody on the defense.”

Indeed it’s a ferocious supporting cast that has helped unleash Campbell. He is one four Jaguars with at least eight sacks. By comparison, Von Miller (10) was the only Broncos player with more than six sacks in 2017. Yannick Ngakoue, a third-round pick of Jacksonville in the 2016 draft, had 12 sacks in his second NFL season. Dante Fowler, the third overall pick in 2015 who missed his entire rookie season because of an injury, had eight sacks and recovered two fumbles. And then there is former Broncos defensive tackle Malik Jackson, the boisterous presence who tallied eight sacks and forced four fumbles.

And that pass rush is fortified by a high-IQ middle linebacker, Paul Posluszny, and a suffocating secondary led by brash-talking cornerback Jalen Ramsey.

“There is not a lot of time for the quarterback to throw,” Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said of the Jaguars’ defense during a radio interview last week. “The whole secondary knows it. The linebackers know it. They’re aggressive. They take chances. They get a lot of turnovers … (The quarterback) is under pressure all day.”

But Campbell is the engine — both on the field and as an emotional leader in the locker room — that guides the unit. The Jaguars create mismatches by moving Campbell around on the defensive line. When he set a single-game Jaguars record with four sacks in the season opener against the Texans, Campbell got to quarterback Tom Savage from right end, left end and from the three-technique spot inside. His athleticism and quickness allow him to line up inside and stunt all the way around the end, leaving a guard assigned to him chasing futilely on the outside. Or he can simply bull rush a tackle by demonstrating surprising leverage for a 6-8 pass rusher. And because of Jacksonville’s pass rushing talent and ability to cover one-on-one on the outside, Campbell faces fewer double-team blocks than most other elite pass rushers.

“He’s incredibly smart in terms of understanding the down-and-distance situations and what’s probably going to come,” Harris said. “And I’m sure being next to Malik Jackson is inspiring him. I’ve been teammates with Malik, and his bombastic personality really inspires others. There’s also something to be said for the twilight effect. Time is running out for Calais Campbell to win a championship. That’s the only thing he doesn’t have on his resume. When you can just play to win, you can really play your best.”